Cool I'll look that up.

I understand that I tend to run games that have a lot of existing cannon and that is a hurtle. And I've sort of been on a 'build your own adventure' kick because I find that fun and I hope a few others do too.

People brought up someof my personnal turn off's as well.

"First Come First Serve" makes me think that the DM doesn't care about the game enough to sift RTJ's or at least doesn't care enough to care much about his players. Kind of makes me think he's an idiot too.

I try to at least pop my posts into Word to geet a quick spelling and grammar check. If you can't at least give that much effort to the public face of your game I'll probably pass.

I know what the biggest turn-on to a game is. Type Exalted or Dresden Files into the system box. Or D&D with Homebrew allowed. Some systems are just in demand if you simply want attention.

Single digit post counts don't bother me too much that is usually you got your game set up and then decided not to run it, sad but it happens. Most games that got a party and then never start seem to sit around the low hundreds. From my experience at least. I wonder if we could get the Admins to releast a report on that for us.

Hmm  the funny thing Is I look at W:P adds about like I do at submitted RTJs. Swordchucks covered about the same points I look at also.

If your WoT game is the one I think of, part of your premise through me off. Honestly I would love to play in a game in that world.

It depends... sometimes, you get a dozen great RTJs within a couple of hours.  Keeping applications open for a longer period just means you have to reject more good applications (this tends to be most true with Pathfinder games for me).

When I am recruiting without a fixed window, I always maintain the RTJ thread with info on RTJ status and decalre a cutoff at least a couple of hours before I officially close things.  One thing that kills me is when RTJs close while you are in the middle of writing one.

Right but keeping the first 5 good ones is not 'First come first serve' the way I see it. I guess I just assume that if you put first come first serve then you mean it.

Having more good apps isn't bad. In my rejection letters I usually ask if people want to be "on-deck" for when people drop (no reason to believe it won't happen). Many usually accept that. One game I did I offered to make people lurkers and it was a bit of a mess. the lurker system isn't super streamlined.

Probably not, as it would require us to know which games got a party before dying, which games were still discussing character creation when they died, which ones had a lot of OOC chat without ever getting as far as character creation, which ones had a lot of OOC chat after the GM abandoned them, etc...

We simply do not have that information.

Oh I just meant posts in deleted games. Possibly with start and deletion dates. I could yank a half decent chart out of that.

We don't keep a record of the start date of games, and unless the GM deletes the game himself, the deletion date can be very different from when the game was last posted to.

Also a lot of GMs recycle games, rather than deleting them (so they don't show as deleted) or delete all the threads so that the site clean-up script will remove the game sooner.

So any figures about abandoned games would be very unreliable.

Well back to the original question, yes swordchucks has covered most of what i look for as well but i would also add "Extensive RTJ requirements"

I dont have the time or the will to come up with an extensive background (that will likely never get used), plus personality, plus motives, plus gods know what for a character that, chances are, isn't going to get into the game or the game will die withing 3 months (which i think is about the halflife for games on here).

Concept, race, class, brief history and a copy and pasted post for a writing sample.  That should be a fair request to join.

oh and age statement.

Yeah free form games always catch me by surprised with the requirements. It makes it a little easier when I use persona's of old characters. And whether I like it or not. I eventualy notice a near copy and can name the original version of the character concept *facepalm*

I lol when people ask for an age statement for a mature game. I always assume it is a test of my knowledge of the site.

It could also simply mean that they are thinking ahead, just in case the game switches to Adult later.  By getting age statements before adding the players to the game while it's Mature, they avoid the need to remove those players before getting age statements when they change the rating.

I have only done that to cover the basis just in case things get crazy.

I plan on sending you a RTJ for your game.

However, you also have asked for ideas that will require us to think. Besides many of us would wait for most of that two weeks anyway.

But if that's the case then say it. Rather than asking for a thing that isn't a thing. I mean I'm old enough that my car insurance company stopped caring how old I was but if I wasn't then there is nothing stopping me from falsifying an age statement for a mature game.

Well considering I understand site policy better now then when I made the game I think I will remove the requirement.

In reply to Sir Swindle (msg # 18):

Nothing stops you giving a false statement for a Mature game, no, since there is no age requirement for Mature games.  But giving a false statement in a Mature game that later becomes Adult is another matter entirely.

Per our rmails. You might consider adding a blurb on the FAQ.

A Topic line that just says "Looking for Players (or palyers)" means I don't click it. I also don't look at ads with Game System "Unknown." If it's freeform or homebrew or to be determined, say so. If you can't figure out what system you'll use, I'm not going to spend time looking at your ad.

The GM can ask you anything they want to.  You don't have to answer, and you don't have to play in their game.  I look at requirements I find are too stiff all the time and just keep walking.

Lying about your age for a mature game is kind of stupid, as BBR points out.  It could come back to bite you in a big way later.

---

To the original topic, I think the issue is less about the W:P ads and more about the way you're setting up the games.  Put up a game people want to play in and the actual text of the W:P is secondary.

Hardly the original topic. I know I run niche games with a narrow target audience. I know what games I could run to get 100+ apps but I don't want to run them.

I just wanted to know what to do to not hurt my chances any MORE.

From what I can tell Mad Mick hit it on the head with Don'ts: "a generic game ad, little information about the game, poor proofreading"

I'm kind of disappointed.  I was expecting a thread along the lines of, "Living Force players that want to play Gungan Jedi need not apply, etc."  I know Living Force has been gone for a long time, but it still holds a special place in my heart.

Yes, the main things are
- add the system to the game details so it shows up in W:P
- use a title for the W:P ad that actually tells people what you're running (not "Fantasy game needs players")
- SPELLCHECK
- poor or lazy formatting which is a pain to read
- lots of people are put off by game ads which are too long and use too many different font colours (I've mostly seen that on freeform games)
- giving a poor idea of what the game is about
- giving a poor idea of what's needed in an RTJ
- or asking too much in an RTJ (really very creepy when a chracter bio sheet has a field for sexual preference btw)


There's not much wrong with OP's ads, I'd just maybe add a bit of flavour text.

After that you want the public threads in your game to be tidy. I usually have one thread which covers introducing myself and the game and includes the RTJ requirements. I also try not to let any of the other public threads for setting and such get too long.

But on the other hand if that's the sort of game they want to run then that's what they need to ask.

I suppose I was too hasty. Do you generally like games where sex will be a main focus because then that observation is a bit more fascinating.

Not really. That question always flags to me that the game isn't likely to be much more than characters making kissy-faces at each other. It says to me "this game is about romance and sex above all else".

I've come across a number of brightly coloured ads for free-form games which include that question in their character bio template (Name, age, height, weight, etc).

ie. a sandbox game based on a space station, or a medieval castle, where the game is about relationships.

Which is interesting to me but it seems the only kind of relationship anyone else in those particular games is interested in playing is a romantic and/or sexual one. It turns into a highschool game on a different set, rather than a proper drama.

While it's definitely an important facet of a character for the player to decide on, asking for that information as standard in an RTJ is creepy to establish or imply a certain tone for the game.

So I guess ultimately it's good that the RTJ asks for that because I know not to bother applying :P

So I am not the only one Tileira, I would give you a proper high five if I could!

It just creeps me out.